Albus Potter and the Great Game
by Barbarossa
Summary: The Dark Lord is long dead and the Wizarding World has since moved on, but the generation of peace that followed the Second Wizarding War is coming to an end. Living in the shadow of his larger than life father, young Albus Potter has begun his schooling in this era of change and flux.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: The Girl Who Lived**

That the Ministry had changed in the years since one Mr. Harry Potter had taken up working within its halls was evident, but there persisted certain aspects of its chilling non euclidean architecture that gave even Mr. Potter's office an unnerving aura during the evenings. Photographs of his wife and children,strategically strewn across the room, and a roaring fire did their best to alter this and make his office feel a little like a home. Yet, the slightly acute angles where the walls met the floor and the apparent stretching of the room as one walked from one corner to another were enough to get to even Mr. Potter in the hours of the late evening.

Since becoming the head of the Auror Office, Mr. Potter's late evenings became ever more common. No longer was he a cog, albeit an important cog, in a machine. Now, many lives were at stake with each mission he planned. Teams of wizards worked under him, executed the orders given by him, and lived and died by the operations planned by him..

Where once Mr. Potter had hated typing up every minor detail in his mission reports, now he found every report submitted by his subordinates an invaluable tool in planning the next operation. If reading over those documents meant that even one life could be saved with better planning in the next operation, then he felt his long evenings would be worth it.

This evening, sitting in the glow of the orange fireplace, Mr. Potter had no mission reports to read. Instead, he waited for the return of a team he had sent to secure a wizard who had been in hiding for some time.

The wait felt like hours, and the youthful wizard wished that he could be taking part in the capture of the hiding Death Eater.

What had Rabastan Lestrange been up too since escaping at the climax of the Battle of Hogwarts?

By all reports he had been living the distinctly non-magical life of a Scottish fisherman. Yet, the evil of the man's past deeds made the notion that he could simply give up on all that and establish a family, with a muggle woman no less, seem impossible. It seemed antithetical to the path that most of the escaped Death Eaters had taken.

Unlike after Voldemort's first fall, there were no pretensions that their dark lord would ever return. Many of those that escaped held up in holes plotting their revenge or attempted to go out in a blaze of glory that cost the lives of a great many good wizards and witches.

But here was Rabastan, living a life that seemed to have no relation to his old one. He was Albert Florence, owner of a small fleet of three fishing boats, a husband, and a father. The idea of it made Mr. Potter anxious, suspicious, and altogether unnerved.

How could a monster so committed to his master's cause that he would take part in the brutal torture of Alice and Frank Longbottom, establish a life without magic?

As Mr. Potter tried to put together a narrative for Rabastan's life in hiding, the lopsided, but semi-frantic clap of shoes against the the stone floor in the hallway just outside of his office, alerted Mr. Potter to the return of the wizard he had tasked to head the operation.

Thud! Thud! Came a powerful knocking at Mr. Potter's door which confirmed what he had already guessed.

"Come in."

Slowly the great oaken door creaked open and Neville Longbottom entered the room, his robes tattered and dirtied, fresh cuts littered his arms and cheeks, and a hole near is calf revealed a great deal of crusted blood on his leg.

"Are you-" Mr. Potter started before being cut off by Neville raising his hand.

"I'll live. Leg's a bit banged up, but it's not serious."Neville said with a huff.

"And the rest of the team?"

"Sally's got pretty bad burns all along her right arm, and Bernard lost a finger, but the rest of us are only dealing with superficial wounds."

"And Lestrange?" Mr. Potter asked as he leaned forward in his rocking chair.

Whatever sense of relief over having survived the ordeal appeared to vanish from Neville's face.

"He refused to surrender. Said he wouldn't go back. In the battle his house caught on fire." He paused and looked down before continuing," He... He and his wife were trapped in the blaze."

"So he's dead."

Neville's face contorted with criticality as he looked upon Mr. Potter's face, illuminated only by the flickering of the firelight.

"He's dead, his wife is dead, and my leg is in the state it is because I ran into that building when I heard his little girl crying."

"I'm sorry about your leg, but-" Mr. Potter started before again being cut off by Neville.

"I'm not asking for your sympathy. I'm wondering why news of the death of his wife and the traumatizing of a five year old girl isn't showing up on your face? Harry, we're doing this because we're supposed to be making the world a better place, but what I saw tonight and what I'm seeing from you, makes me wonder if that's still the case."

"It's a tragedy, what happened tonight, Neville. You can be sure of that, but Rabastan was a monster. When we found out his location something had to be done."

"Did it?" Neville challenged.

"How can you ask that after everything he's put you through?" came an indignant reply that Mr. Potter regretted almost immediately.

"This isn't about me Harry. This isn't about revenge. I thought you knew that, but I guess I thought wrong. This is about the five year old girl sitting in the hallway, so traumatized by what she saw tonight that she's not even crying!" Neville bellowed. It had been a long time since Mr. Potter had seen his old friend get so worked up and angry at him.

"All those reports about Lestrange's secret basement that he'd built. Do you know what we found after we cleared away the rubble and ash to examine it?"

Mr. Potter couldn't reply, Neville's force and presence in the room seemed to have sucked out all the oxygen in it.

"We found cured fish, Harry. The basement was where he was curing fish."

"What were we supposed to do, Neville? Ignore him, let a Death Eater responsible for numerous acts of murder, torture, and terrorism go because he decided to play house? He was a monster and as tragic as it is that this led to the death of his wife we had to do something."

"But did we have to do this?" came a biting response from Neville.

Shaking his head, Neville took a deep breath before speaking again.

"I'd like to tender my resignation, Harry."

"What?" the suddenness of it catching Mr. Potter off guard.

"This isn't me, Harry. I'm not a dark wizard hunter, and I never really have been. So this is me doing something I need to do. If I was a courageous man I'd take that little girl with me and try and help her make something of this tattered life of hers. But I'm not."- Neville brushed his eyes with his tattered sleeves to fight back tears.- "I'm a coward, Harry, and I'm absolutely terrified of going back out there and seeing that girl even just one more time. I'm terrified of being that girl's Barty Crouch or Rabastan Lestrange. If by some miracle I'm neither of those things to that girl, then I'll count myself lucky and be incredibly thankful for getting out before I became those things for someone."

With that Neville placed his documentation as an Auror on Mr. Potter's desk and made his way to the door.

"I'm gonna send that girl in here after me, Harry. I'm gonna do it because even after all of this, I still believe in Harry Potter and I believe that you're courageous."

With that, Neville left Mr. Potter's office one final time and after a brief exchange in the hallway a small girl entered the dimly lit room.

The grime of ash was incredibly noticeable against her pale skin, her long wavy reddish-blonde locks were a mess that smelled of burnt hair, and the original color of her nightgown was impossible to know at this point. She was, to put it into words, a mess.

Despite her exterior, she was calm and quiet and simply looked up at Mr. Potter with her deep green eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked, not sure if he expected a response.

"Could I read one of your books?" the girl replied, a dirty outstretched finger pointing past Mr. Potter towards his large collection of writings on tactical magical operations, histories of dark wizards, and the criminal underground.

Mr. Potter glanced at the shelf and then glanced back at the girl before nodding in agreement.

"We'll have to clean up those hands, but then yes. You may read a book"

Mr. Potter wasn't about to give the girl a 500 page book on the histories of dark wizards, but he was a father and as luck would have it he had a story filled with fables that he'd picked up recently with the intent of giving it to his eldest boy.

Save for the the dropping off of several mission reports on the occurrences at the Lestrange residence, the remainder of the evening was almost silent. Only the turning of pages as the young girl read and the scribbling of Mr. Potter's pen as he wrote his own report to be sent farther up the chain of command kept to room from falling into total silence.

As the hour stuck twelve, Mr. Potter looked to the little girl who would be in his care until a proper foster family could be secured for her. She had finally stopped reading ,and now her cheek rested against the pages of the large story book.

Mr. Potter's arrival at his home with the small girl at his side went unnoticed as it appeared that his family was asleep; as they normally were when he arrived in the dead of night.

Looking down at the little girl, Mr. Potter spoke in a hushed but reassuring voice.

"We've got the be quiet. Don't want to wake anyone."

The girl nodded in agreement, but said nothing.

"Come along, I've got a bed in my study you can use."

Mr. Potter's late night arrivals had become so common that the bed in his study had been an addition made to keep him from waking his wife up in the early hours of the morning.

Navigating the corridors of the house in the dark was a difficult task, made all the more tough by the presence of James' toys strewn across the floor.

When the two arrived at the door to his study, Mr. Potter found the light on and the door slightly ajar. Sleeping in his father's reading chair, with a book on the founders of the great houses of Hogwarts resting on his lap was Albus Potter.

The creaking of the door did not awaken the sleeping boy, and Mr. Potter had hoped to keep from stirring him from his slumber, but before he could do anything, the young girl made her way from Mr. Potter's side to the boy in the chair and took the big book from his lap.

The removal of the book brought the groggy Albus back to the waking world and suddenly seeing a girl he'd never met before sent his half closed eyes wide with inquisitiveness and excitement.

"Who are you?!" he asked in a voice that wasn't yet a yell, but was certainly too loud to be using at 1:30 in the morning.

The small girl brought her index finger up to her lips and in a hushed voice responded, " My name's Delphi, what's your's?"

...

Delphini's stay at 12 Grimmauld Place had turned from a planned couple of days to a week, to two, and then in the blink of an eye a month and a half had passed. The task of finding a foster family for the daughter of a notorious Death Eater had proved to be an unrewarding and difficult one. It didn't matter that the girl was five and had no idea what or who her father used to be. When families heard the name Lestrange tagged on at the end they suddenly found themselves unable to take in a child. If a proper foster family was not found soon the Ministry would take the girl and she would be placed in an orphanage as a ward of the state.

In the month following Neville's resignation from his post, Mr. Potter had been forced to examine himself in a way he hadn't done in some time. After the Battle of Hogwarts the war hadn't ended and people kept dying, and they kept dying, in part, because of him. People had died because he'd been too cavalier, people had died because he wasn't cavalier enough, people had died because he sent them into situations he didn't fully understand, and now people had died because he didn't want anymore of his people to die.

 _His people_.

How could he have allowed himself to start thinking in such an us versus them mentality? When did his office in the Ministry become a fortress under siege?

The murmurs of children brought Mr. Potter out of his head and back to his study.

The library in Mr. Potter's study had been a place of solitude for some time. James was fond of the stories in the books, but the six year old wasn't particularly adept at reading them and showed little interest in trying to, but Albus, despite being largely unable to read anything more than the most rudimentary of sentences had started to find himself in the library more and more often. Generally the 4 year old boy just looked at the moving pictures in the books and asked his father or mother about them. That was before the girl had arrived though.

Now, whenever Mr. Potter was in his study, Albus and Delphini were there as well. The girl threw herself into reading, something that Mr. Potter, as an orphan himself, understood all too well and a factor that only caused him to feel the shame and regret of his decision more everyday.

Gazing up from the _Daily Prophet_ he looked at the pair that had become fast friends. Albus tugged at the older girl's sleeve and asked what a word was and Delphini tried to the best of her ability to describe it.

The girl didn't know that Mr. Potter was the man responsible for the death of her family, for her being an orphan, or for the cutting of her long strawberry blonde hair to remove the burnt edges. He stared at the girl intently and wondered whether he should tell her. He'd asked her if she understood what had happened to her parents, and she had responded.

"Papa started a fire again, but this time the firemen didn't arrive in time to put it out."

Mr. Potter had come to learn that Rabastan had not fully adjusted to his life in hiding and had slipped into alcoholism and was prone to fits of rage, or as the girl had put it, "Papa got mad a lot".

There was no solace for Mr. Potter in finding out that Rabanstan was a drunk with anger issues. His prior misdeeds and his alcoholism were neither his wife's crimes nor were they his daughter's and if anything this new information cast them as victims of Rabastan.

The two children read and talked and read and talked, and Mr. Potter watched and began to ask himself, "What would I have done for a friend like that?"

Would life under the stair have been more bearable if Dudley had truly been his friend from the start?

Perhaps 12 Grimmauld Place was the home the girl needed. He'd have to discuss it with Ginny, but they could take the girl in and give her a home. Harry could take a step towards trying to make up for the mistake he had made.

A delicate knocking came from the door and Ginny popped her head into the room.

"Harry, Eustace from the office is here. I told him about the study, so he's waiting by the fire place to speak with you."

Eustace McDermott was a gangly wizard in his mid forties, who, according to office gossip had started to lose his hair when he was a only few year younger than Mr. Potter.

Eustace stood anxiously by the mouth of the fireplace, dusting off left over floo powder from his tweed jacket. When Mr. Potter reached out to greet him, Eustace furiously shook his hand. With a nervous smile on his face, Eustace began to speak.

"I'm so sorry it took me so long, Mr. Potter, sir, but I've finally done it."

"Done what?"

"Why find a place for the Lestrange girl, of course."

"Oh" responded Mr. Potter with a great deal of uncertainty in his voice.

"Are you sure? Do they know who her father is?"

"They know and they don't care." Eustace excitedly replied.

"They are a pair of muggle born's who recently had their only child graduate from Hogwarts. The combination of empty nest syndrome and their desire to help someone in their time of need makes them perfect."

"But do they know how to raise a child?"

"I could have sworn I said that they just had a child graduate from Hogwarts?"

"Well yes, you did, but I mean, do they know how to deal with a child who has faced trauma."

"Does anyone really know, sir? Mr. Potter, I'm telling yeh, these folks are the best bet we've got of givin' this girl a real life. It's either them or the Ministry puts her in an orphanage."

"Ginny and I could take her." Mr. Potter blurted out.

"Bless your heart, sir. Honestly, bless your heart. But what happens when she find out? I mean, I think what was done was what needed to be done, but that girl will find out that it was the Ministry that done her Pa in and accidentally done her Ma in. I can't imagine what it'll mean to a girl to find out she's livin' in the house of the man that signed the order. No offence meant, sir."

Eustace was right. Or at least Mr. Potter thought he was right. He didn't want him to be right, but he remembered his own rage towards Sirus when he'd thought that he betrayed his parents and he came to the conclusion that Delphi would be better off far away from the man who murdered her family.

With a sigh, Mr. Potter finally spoke, "Thank you Eustace. I know this must have meant a lot of overtime for you. I'll get everything with Delphi in order and take her to her new family."

"Alrighty, sir. Here's their name and address, sir. Best of luck to you, sir."

And with that the gangly middle aged man stepped into the empty fire place and vanished in green fire, leaving Harry alone.

...

 **First, Last, and Only author's notes** : Okay, let's get this over with. I don't own the setting or the characters. I loved the original Harry Potter series as a kid and I liked some ideas in Cursed Child, but I disliked a great deal of the finished product. This isn't me pretending that I can do better than two real writers with a great deal of accomplishments behind their names, this is me having fun in the sandbox that J.K. Rowling created because I'm a hack who can't create my own setting and is forced to use existing settings from writers who are far better than I will ever be. Warning for anyone who just wants to read about the original trio, there presence is minimal in the story. Instead you will be suffering through lot's of OC and OOC in regards to the characters heavily featured in Cursed Child. Beispielsweise, my version of Delphini is only tangentially connected to Tom Riddle. If she's going to be the next great Dark Wizard (which I'm not saying she will be) I want her to stand on her own, I want her to be as independent of Riddle as Riddle was of Grindelwald.


	2. An Eventful Train Ride

Chapter 1: An Eventful Train Ride

He could choose to be in Gryffindor.

The thought was reassuring to Albus after days of teasing from his older brother, James. Though the teasing had been all in good fun, and Albus had been largely immune to it in the beginning, the trip to the wand makers had weakened young Albus' ability to move past the teasing. His father had a wand with a phoenix feather core and his flamboyant and outgoing brother had been chosen by a wand with a dragon heartstring core. The wand cores spoke highly of their users, and set up great expectations for Albus, but when the boy left the wand shop, he didn't do so with a wand that's core was of phoenix feather, Dragon heartstring, or even Unicorn hair. Instead, the young boy had left the shop with a wand possessing a kelpie hair core.

His father and Mr. Ollivander had tried to assure him that the wand was more than just the core.

Albus recalled Mr. Ollivander leaning in close so as to whisper to him, "A wand's wood says a great number of things about the character of its companion. Do you know what the English Oak that comprises this particular wand says to me?"

Albus had simply shaken his head in response.

"It tells me that it would be an honor to be your friend." the old man said, with a queer smile on his face.

After doing a little research, Albus had discovered that English Oak was generally associated with witches and wizards with a great sense of honor, courage, and loyalty. Which was slightly reassuring.

Looking at his wand, as he plodded down the busy corridor in search of an empty cabin, Albus tried to fight back the uncertainty which the kelpie hair had fostered.

He needed to focus.

While finding friends on the train was certainly not the be all end all, his uncle Ron had regaled him numerous times with the story of how he, Aunt Hermione, and his dad had met during their very first train ride to Hogwarts.

He didn't want to admit it, but that story was responsible for why he'd said no when his brother had asked if he wanted to sit with him and his friends. Albus wanted to find his own friends, people that he could bond with on his own. Was it an awful thing to think of James' compatriots as second hand friends? Perhaps is was, but Albus wanted to be Albus Potter and not James Potter's little brother.

"Albus! Albus!" yelled a huffing girl, running up from behind him.

The source of the yells was non other than Albus' cousin Rose.

"Why'd you go off on your own? I was talkin' to my mum and dad and then you were gone. Took me forever to find you. James'll be waiting for us farther up in the train." she said with a tug at Albus' sleeve.

"I'm not going to James' cabin. I mean, well, I kind of just want to find a place on my own." Albus replied, trying to sound as though he had a sense of conviction on the matter.

"Yeah, alrighty then. We best get a move on then or else all the cabins will be filled up and we'll have to go all the way back to the end of the train." Rose responded, not missing a beat.

"Full" a large group of girls called out in unison when Albus opened the door.

"Full!" Yelled a second or third year as his friends talked over one another about their vacations.

"Bugger off, First year's" said an older boy as he and a girl Albus could only assume was his girlfriend snogged in the corner.

The cries of "full" went on and on, until it seemed that the train would begin to move and Albus and Rose would be forced to the back. Finally the pair of first years came across a cabin that looked to be able to accommodate them. A single witch with a long mane of messy red hair resided within the cabin, her nose in a book, she didn't seem to notice the two first years. Or if she did notice them, then she didn't really care.

With no protests from the reading witch, the two took a seat across from her.

This was most definitely not what Albus had been hoping for. Where were his own counterparts to Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione? James hadn't had this kind of trouble finding friends on the train ride his first year. He'd told Albus as much a thousand times over the summer. He didn't know if in a desperate attempt to salvage the train ride he should make conversation with the girl sitting in front of him. The girl was clearly a year or two older than the two first years and looked liked she would much rather continue reading her textbook than strike up a conversation with either Albus or Rose. Scanning the cabin interior, Albus noticed the girl's tawny owl tugging at the end of a silver and green tie that messily hung out of a partially ajar suitcase.

"Your... Your tie." Albus said, in a voice that he felt was entirely too squeaky.

The girl looked up from her book, first to Albus and then to her suitcase. Quickly, she reached out with her thin hands and pulled the tie away from the small tawny owl before looking back at Albus inquisitively. The messy haired girl's brow wrinkled and she looked as if she were going to ask Albus a question, only to swallow it and go back to her book.

The awkward silence was interrupted by Rose who proved once again that she was the more forward of the two cousins.

"My names, Rose. Rose Granger-Weasley. It's a pleasure to meet you." her hand stretched out to greet the girl.

The older girl reached out with a frail looking hand and shook Rose's.

"Delphini Lestrange, charmed." the girl said with a halfhearted smile that revealed a very crooked incisor.

Rose gasped at the name, which made Albus feel good about being able to recall the name Lestrange, but also feel bad for not remembering the context of it.

A slight frown appeared on the girl's face when she heard Rose's gasp.

"Go ahead and ask your question. I know you want to."

That made Rose shrink back into her seat, feeling disarmed by the fact that the girl was opening herself up to them, expecting an attack.

"The Lestranges are supposed to be a really old pureblood family, aren't they?" Albus asked, half out of an earnest desire to know and half trying to put the girl at ease.

"I guess so. I'm a half-blood me self, and I don't know much about my Pa's family beyond what I've picked up from other folks. He didn't exactly tell me much about our history before he got himself killed when I was 6."

Albus didn't know how to respond other than with an apologetic, "I'm terribly sorry."

"Why are you sorry? You didn't force him to drink a fifth of scotch and try and do battle with a team of Aurors did you?"

Albus gave a side to side nod, not sure how else to respond.

"I didn't think so. Everything I've learned about him only confirms what I knew about him when I was a kid. He was a spinless, no good git, who relied on the strength of other wizards to keep going. I just wish he'd had the common courtesy to have died in a fishin accident so me mum could still be here."

Delphini laughed a little at Albus and Rose's silent expressions.

"Well there's no need for you to both be rushin to talk over each other. We do have an entire train ride to get acquainted now, don't we?"

Wondering what say, Albus decided the safest bet was to simply introduce himself. He hated that he had to resort to it, but she probably knew his last name and he could score some points thanks to that.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Delphini, I'm Potter. Albus Potter."

The girl's eyes seemed to light up when Albus said his name. Even Rose took notice of the change in the girl's expression.

"You've gotten so big, Albus." she said reaching out with both hands and uncomfortably gripping Albus' outstretched hand and forearm.

"I… I beg your pardon?"

"Of course you wouldn't recognize me, you were just four the last time we saw each other."

"Delphi?" Albus said, questioningly as old half forgotten memories resurfaced.

A wide grin once again exposed the girl's crooked incisor and she released Albus from her grip.

"You didn't forget me." she said in a lively voice.

"I did, but I mean I also didn't. It's just it's been a very long time."

"I'm confused-" Rose interjected. "Do you two know each other?"

"When may family passed away, I stayed with Albus for a couple of months before I went off to live with my first foster family." Delphi replied.

"First?" Albus asked with surprise.

"Yes, they were a nice couple, but it only lasted a couple of years before Mr. Morrison passed away and Mrs. Morrison was unable to take care of me on her own."

"And then?"

"And then I started to get shuffled around until I finally found myself in an orphanage."

"I'm sorry." Albus said out of instinct

"Stop apologizing, Albus. It's a terrible trait to prostrate yourself before someone when you've done nothing wrong." Deliphi reprimanded.

"I...um" Albus started before the the cabin door opened up and a tall and thin boy with neatly kept almost platinum blonde hair appeared in the doorway.

"May I ride in this cabin? The prefects are going around and making sure that everyone is in a cabin before the train starts up."

"Yes, we have a seat right there." Rose pointed across from her.

Carefully, so as to not bump into Delphi's owl, the boy set down his things before reaching out with his hand and introducing himself.

"Scorpius Malfoy. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"My dad says I've got to beat you in every test." Rose said with a bit smile.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I understand?" Scorpius replied, a brow raised.

"Rose Granger-Weasley." she took Scorpius' hand and gave is a solid shake.

"My father warned me about you Weasley's."

"Oh did he?"

"Yeah, said your lot are tenacious and to try not getting on the wrong side you you since your clan was about the size of a small village."

Albus and Rose giggled at that, and whatever apprehension the two had about the arrival of the Malfoy boy dissipated.

"And you two are?" Scorpius asked.

"Albus Potter."

"Delphini Lestrange."

Scorpius looked like he had expected the name Potter, but not the name Lestrange.

"I, um, it's a pleasure to meet you both." Scorpius caught himself after almost falling on his face.

"Are you all first years?" Scorpius asked.

Rose and Albus answered in unison that they were while Delphini announced her status as a second year.

"So you've already been sorted, right?" Scorpius asked inquisitively.

"Yes, I'm in Slytherin."

Albus had already known because of the colors of her tie that Delphini was in Slytherin, but hearing it out loud kind of hurt. He would already be disadvantaged when it came to finding time to catch up with Delphini because she was a second year. With her in Slytherin and he wanting to be in Gryffindor the pair would rarely see each other.

"We'll probably be seeing a lot more of each other." Scorpius said upon hearing about Delphini's placement.

"You seem very sure of that."

"It'd be a pretty big shakeup if a Malfoy didn't make it into Slytherin. I don't think my old man would be disappointed. He's always saying that he's there for me no matter what and my mum wouldn't care, but I think my Gramps and my Nan would be more than a little put off by it."

Turning away from Delphini and looking back to Rose and Albus, Scorpius spoke again.

"I'm supposing it's all but a forgone conclusion that you lot will be sorted into Gryffindor?"

The way that Scorpius had so matter-of-factly stated his belief that Albus would be placed in Gryffindor filled Albus with great confidence.

"Oh, I don't know. I think I'd be quite alright with Ravenclaw." Rose replied.

"I'll have to send an owl to my dad if I see the miracle of miracles, a Weasley outside of Gryffindor." Scorpius chortled.

Not long after that the train began spring to life and lurched forward. Scorpius leaned to the window to wave goodbye to his parents, as did Rose and Albus despite the fact that they couldn't see their families among the throng of people.

The four young wizards and witches talked about their home lives, laughing and groaning about the peculiarities of their families. In comparison, Delphini's stories were all about her first year at Hogwarts; not touching on the muggle filled orphanage that she spent her summer in. It made Albus feel a bit uneasy about sharing his stories, but it also made him wonder about his father. His old man rarely talked about life with his muggle family, he brought up Cousin Dudley a couple of times, but his stories of those times were short on details. One of the few stories Albus remembered was the one his uncle Ron had told him about using a flying car to break Albus' dad out of the house. Even though his dad never said it, it seemed clear that Hogwarts was his home and the Dursley home simply wasn't. Was this what Delphini was going through or was Albus overthinking everything?

The rest of the train ride was filled with more laughter, more stories, and so much overspending on sweets that Albus was left with a stomach ache and dealing with Rose making him abundantly aware that she had in fact told him so.

When the train neared it's stop, the four took turns using the cabin to change into their robes and then they tried to finish off what candy they still had.

The train slowed to a crawl before finally coming to a complete stop.

"This is where we part ways for now." Delphini smiled. "You lot get to take the boat ride across the lake to get to the opening ceremony."

Squeezing past Albus and Rose, and barely missing hitting Scorpius in the face with her owl cage, Delphini exited the cabin. As she left, she stopped for a moment and said, "I'll save you a good seat at the Slytherin table, Scorpius."

Albus' smile faded a bit with that, though he was still resolute that he would measure up to the Potter tradition and take his place at Gryffindor. Rising up from his seat, Albus smiled at Rose and Scorpius.

"Come on you lot, we've got a whole knew world to explore." Albus said with a level of confidence that had alluded him since he'd been paired with that wand with a kelpie hair core.


	3. The Sorting Hat

Chapter 2: The Sorting Hat

The throng of students that pushed their way into the cold night air moved like a semi-fluid mass, lurching onto the the platform and swaying with uncertainty. Albus stood on the tip of his toes as he tried to look above the heads of the crowd of first years around him, causing the slightly taller Scorpius to snicker. Albus saw a tall and slender figure obscured by light emitted from it's wand approach the mass of students.

As the figure drew near, Albus began to be able to make out defining features, like long blonde hair and that cascaded over the figure's cloak.

"First years! First years!" the figure called called out in a sing song voice that made Albus realize exactly who the person was.

"Follow me, my darling first years. And do try and be brisk, the kraken in the lake is putting on a lovely light show hoping to find love this evening and it would be a dreadful thing for you all to miss it."

The mass of first years murmured at the mention of the kraken, but Albus recalled his Aunt Hermione talking about the giant squid in the lake as well as reading about it in his copy of _Hogwarts a History._ What was more surprising and what caused Albus to push his way to the front of the mass of students was the realization that Luna Lovegood was the one who was there to escort the students to the boats that would take them across the lake.

"Luna!" Albus said with excitement.

The professor smiled at Albus.

"The other professor's would probably prefer you called me Professor Lovegood, Albus. Though you wouldn't be the only little one to call me by my first name."

"Do you know her?" a boy with shaggy blonde hair asked Albus.

Albus puffed up with a bit of pride, " Yes, she's the Professor who teaches Care for Magical Creatures and Ghoul Studies."

"Not this year, Albus." Luna called back to the boys. "We have a new Ghoul Studies instructor. She's a lucky one, gets to play with the Thestrals even though they should be covered by my course." she said wistfully.

The shaggy haired boy stretched out a hand and introduced himself, "McLaggen. Erin McLaggen. Pleasure to meet you."

"Albus Potter." he replied shaking his hand.

"Oh, my brother Theodoric knows your brother, James. I guess we'll be seeing each other a lot more."

Once again, the reassurance that he would be placed in Gryffindor made Albus feel more confident in himself. Everyone seemed to see what he worried wasn't there.

The boat ride across the glittering lake was beautiful and as frightening as the sight of the flailing arms of the giant squid were, the bioluminescent light show that was on display was enchanting. The pulsing opalescent limbs of the gargantuan beast danced to and fro in the inky darkness of the lake water, calling out to a mate that failed to arrive to him year after year.

According to Albus' copy of _Hogwarts a History_ , the lake was only large enough to support one male giant squid. If the male were swapped for a female squid, which were generally two to three times the size of their male counterparts, it would have a dramatic impact of the wild life in the lake and the Merfolk that called the lake home would find their livelihoods threatened. And that was just swapping out the male for a female. Adding a female to the lake would destroy the ecosystem and lead to the Squids and their young dying out after first having consumed everything within the lake.

"Cool" Erin said in awe of the sight.

Looking over to Scorpius, who was sitting near the center of the small boat staring down at the floor, Albus said, "You have to come look at this, Scorpius."

"I'm fine." Scorpius replied, his voice quaking slightly.

"What's wrong? You afraid, Scorpius?"

"I ain't afraid. I just don't like bugs?" Scorpius replied indignantly.

"Squid's aren't bugs. They're cephalopods." Rose corrected.

"They've got too many legs to be anything other than giant water bugs in my eyes." he retorted.

The glittering squid grew distant as the boats made their way closer to the great castle, until the dancing limbs vanished from Albus' sight altogether. As the boats approached the ivy covered cliff-side, Professor Lovegood placed the tip of her wand to the side of her throat and spoke out.

"I have had some very pleasant conversations with Nick concerning the merits of membership in the Headless Hunt, but I must suggest that you mind heads here children."

Albus ducked his head as the boat passed through the ivy into a dark tunnel. In the tunnel the twinkling stars and light cast by the sliver the moon vanished, leaving only the dim lanterns on each boat to light the way to the underground harbor.

The first years clambered out of their respective boats onto the harbor. The light at the end of Professor Lovegood's wand led the students up a dark passageway to an enormous wooden door. Professor Lovegood knocked at the door with her dainty hands, barely making any noise.

Murmurs began to grow in intensity as fear that no one would be able to hear the first years at the door spread through the children. Despite the quietness of the knocking, the great doors swung open and revealed a smiling Wizard roughly around Albus' father's age.

"First years, I'd like to introduce you to Professor Longbottom."

"Thank you, Professor Lovegood.I'll take the students from here."

The first years followed Professor Longbottom through the gargantuan entrance hall, astonished by its size and scope of it all.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. We'll be starting the opening banquet shortly, but first you lot will need to be sorted into your houses." Professor Longbottom flashed the crowd of students a reassuring smile. "The sorting process is a time honored institution in these halls and it will shape much of your life within this castle. It will determine your class schedule, the dorm you will live in, and the common room you will very likely spend much of your free time in."

Professor Longbottom went on to list of the four houses, informing the students that he was head of Gryffindor house, and explained the competition for the House Cup.

Albus and the rest of the first years were left to their own devices for a few minutes, causing the hall to be filled with chatter as some students pondered how they would be sorted and others told them.

"Don't look so nervous, Potter. Gryffindor's are supposed to be courageous. I'd hate for my rival to be a cowardly lion." Scorpius playfully joked.

Albus felt his face flush a little with anger, but he knew that the Malfoy boy was only being friendly.

"If I were you, I'd be more worried about accidentally seeing the giant squid swim past the windows in the Slytherin common room. Wouldn't want everyone to see you have a panic attack, now would you?" Albus responded with a toothy grin.

The two boys enjoyed one final laugh before they, and the rest of the first years, formed a line and were taken out into the dining hall. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of older students roared out in applause, shouting, and laughter upon the entrance of the first years into the great hall.

As the line of students made its way forward, Albus scanned the hall for his older brother James and for Delphini.

Underneath a great crimson and gold banner, James and the rest of the Marauders hooped and hollered at the first years, though Albus was unable to make out what they were saying.

Delphini was with the rest of the Slytherins. Unlike his brother, she sat quietly waving her left hand at the passing first years. When her gaze caught Albus' she smiled at him.

Why was Delphini in Slytherin? Albus wondered. She was didn't match any of the stereotypes that James, Ted, and his Uncle Ron had told him. It didn't seem fair that James would run into an old friend and then barely get to see them again.

The line of students was brought to a halt as a thin Wizard with thick bushy eyebrows placed a ratty old hat upon a stool and stepped away. The ratty looking hat sprang to life and sang to the students about the four great houses and their placement, ending it's song with a roar of applause from its audience.

Professor Longbottom stepped forward and gave the first years a warm smile, "I'll be calling your names, so please come on up when you are called."

"Anders, Martin!"

A robust boy who looked to have about two stone on Albus made his way to the hat.

"Gryffindor!" bellowed the hat.

The Gryffindor table erupted into congratulations as the boy made his way to his new housemates.

"Arbor, Felicia!"

A short girl, her long black hair in twin braids, stepped forward and was seated.

"Ravenclaw!" cried the hat almost instantaneously.

The students beneath the blue and bronze banners let out a loud cheer as the girl made her way to them.

"Barrowman, Isaac."

A tall boy, with slick backed hair, a pair of thin framed glasses, and a stern look on his face made his way forward.

The hat sat upon his head for a good five or six seconds before it finally cried out, "Hufflepuff!"

Several Hufflepuffs raised from their seats and clapped loudly for the boy.

Professor Longbottom called down the list of names and student after student went to their new house.

When Professor Longbottom came to "Granger-Weasley, Rose." Rose flashed a smile to her cousin and confidently made her way forward.

Albus wasn't remotely surprised when the hat called out, "Gryffindor!" and apparently neither was his older brother who was waving a flag that said, "Welcome to the Marauders Rose".

The names and placements continued, the crowd of students not losing any of the enthusiasm that was present at the beginning of the ceremony.

After Gius Landon was placed in Hufflepuff, Professor Longbottom called out, " Malfoy, Scorpius".

"Good Luck, mate," Albus said as Scorpius passed him.

Scorpius turned slightly and with a smile replied, "I don't need it."

The sorting hat descended upon Scorpius' head and there it sat. First five seconds passed, then ten, then fifteen, and then it finally called out, "Gryffindor!"

The hat was pulled off and revealed a shocked look on Scorpius' face. It took a few second for Scorpius to gather his thoughts and get up from the stool. The throng of Gryffindor students greeted him with hugs and handshakes. It looked like Scorpius wouldn't be Albus' rival after all.

A dozen more names were read off before Jennifer Palmer, a toothy looking girl with deep red hair, was sorted into Slytherin and then Professor Longbottom called out ,"Potter, Albus."

Albus looked out at the throng of students as he steadfastly made his way forward. His heart began to pound in his chest and it felt like heavy weights were being added to his legs with each step. Finally he made his way to the stool and got one last look at the crowd and saw Delphini wave at him before everything went dark.

"Another Potter," a said a voice in the darkness.

"How Interesting."

"Yes, how _very_ interesting."

"You might be more difficult to place than either your brother or your father."

With that any of the assurance that had built up over the evening vanished.

"Concerned are we?"

"But why?"

"So divided, you are. Part of you wishes to live up to your father's legacy while another wishes to not be measured against it."

"You could escape his shadow in an instant if I called out anything other than Gryffindor."

"You could be free."

"You'd like that wouldn't you, Mr. Potter?"

Albus didn't want to admit it, but deep down, a part of him agreed. If he kept going on the path he had set out for himself, he would be battling to live up to his father and brother's legacies. He'd still be in their shadows. He'd still be Harry Potter's son or James Potter's brother.

But departing from the path meant chaos and uncertainty and what would his family think?

"Chaos, really? Such uncertainty in one's self isn't exactly Gryffindor behavior now is it, Mr. Potter?"

"I am certain," Albus thought.

"I'm certain that I want to be with my friends"

Images of Rose, James, and Scorpius flashed in his mind, but so did those of Delphini in both her five year old iteration and her current form.

"The bookish boy who wants to do what is necessary to live up to his father's legacy can't decide where he wishes to go and I struggle to find his placement myself. How interesting."

Silence descended upon Albus as the voice vanished and left him alone for what felt like an impossibly long amount of time.

Had the hat simply been unable to sort him?

What would it mean if it never called out a house?

Would he be kicked out of Hogwarts?

What would his father and brother say?

He couldn't let that happen. Albus had to be sorted. He'd yell out the name himself if need be. He needed to be sorted. He needed to… and before Albus could finish his thought the hat cried out, "SLYTHERIN!"

The hat vanished from his head in an instant and Albus was greeted by tremendous applause. The Gryffindor table was silent. James, Rose, and even Scorpius looked shocked. James and the rest of the third year Marauders held a big sign that said, "Welcome to the Marauders, Albus" but unlike with Rose, the sign was held low and motionless. It was from the Slytherin table that the applause rang out. Delphini was standing, something that she hadn't done for the other first years, and clapping.

Albus lifted himself up and began to make his way to his enthused housemates. Unlike his journey to the stool, he felt as light as a feather. In fact, he worried that the uproar from the Slytherin table would blow him away like dust.

Maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

Everything felt like it was occurring in slow motion as Albus made his way into the arms of the awaiting Slytherins. He shook hands, gave hugs, and took names, but it didn't feel like it was him doing any of these things.

Albus very much wanted to cry, but he didn't need that to make everything even worse than it already was. So he stifled his tears for the time.

Delphini congratulated him and directed him to the seat that she had saved for Scorpius that had ended up never being used.

The rest of the names seemed to go by in a blur as Albus sat beside Delphini and clapped whenever another Slytherin was called. When at last the sorting was done and Professor Longbottom had taken the sorting hat away, Headmistress McGonagall looked out at the students.

"Greetings, Hogwarts students, both new and old alike. It is wonderful to see all of your faces as we begin this new academic year. You will face challenges, as we all must, and you will be confronted with new and exciting adventures that will propel you forward academically and shape the witch or wizard that you grow into. It is my sincerest hope that you will all take full advantage of the opportunities provided to you by this school and its staff and that we will see more innovation, more success, and more grandeur springing forth from these hallowed halls than ever before. Before I end my speech and allow the feast to begin, I must first introduce our new Potions Mistress, Professor Eleanor Cobham. In addition to replacing out recently retired colleague, Professor Slughorn, as the instructor of Potions classes, she will be taking his role as Head of Slytherin House."

Professor Cobham looked to be about Albus' father's age or perhaps a little older. She had shoulder length chestnut hair, and bit of a hooked nose. She stood up from her seat, revealing that she was at least six feet tall, and gave an unsmiling wave to the students before taking her seat again.

"Thank you all for your attention. Now we can begin the urgent matter of eating."


	4. The First Evening

**Chapter 3: The First Evening**

With the end of Headmistress McGonagall's speech the plates filled themselves with piles and piles of food. Albus looked out at the table, not sure if he would be able to eat. He felt sick and a bit wounded by the fact that he had been placed in Slytherin. But it wasn't the fact that the Sorting Hat had placed him Slytherin that hurt the most; it was the fact that he was going to ask for it if it meant he got placed at all. That silent passage of time while the hat grew more and more heavy on his head had made him desperate.

He'd needed to sorted.

He couldn't look like a joke.

So he'd decided to do what was necessary, and now he was living with the consequences.

An older boy with slicked back auburn hair and an abundance of facial acne reached out to Ablus, "Pleasure to meet you, Albus. I'm Owain Gruffydd," the boy said in a heavy Welsh accent, as though he expected Albus to know who he was.

"Nice to meet you."

"Try not to let any of the things that I'm sure your brother has said about me color your view of me. He and I might be rivals in Potions class, but you're not your brother."

"James hasn't said anything about a rival in Potions." Albus replied.

The boy's brow furrowed.

"Nothing? Are you sure?"

"Nope. The only rival I can really recall James talking about was Samson Roberts, the Ravenclaw Seeker."

The boy looked grave.

"Really, Nothing?"

At this point, Albus realized that being James' rival was important to him and the fact that he didn't register on James's radar enough even to complain about him to his little brother hurt his pride.

"Wait, did you say Owain _Gruffydd_?" Albus placed emphasis on the boys last name to feign that he misheard the name.

"Yeah," the boy answered.

"Oh! You know, now that I think about it, I think he was talking to mom about you. Called you a know it all git, if I recall correctly." Albus lied.

A grin appeared on the third year boy's face.

"I'm just doin' my best to hold his feet to the fire. I'll do the same to you, but only because I want Slytherin to live up to it's potential and I think you've got a great deal of that."

"Slytherin's potential?"

"Yeah, we haven't won the house cup in nine years. My older brother"- he pointed to a seventh year Slytherin boy talking with some of his friends at the far end of the table.- "is in his final year and I want to make sure that my year and all out underclassmen do our part to make sure that this year we win the cup."

The boy turned back to Albus.

"It'll be an excellent graduation present. Don't you think?"

"Yeah," Albus replied sheepishly.

"Plus, we'll finally show the other houses that Slytherin is still a house to be reckoned with and-."

The boy was cut off by short boy with a subtle hint of red facial hair appearing along his chin.

"Don't mind him. Owain's got delusions of grandeur. He's mostly just prepping for the role of head boy in a few years."

The boy reached out for a handshake.

"Rudolf Mclendon. It's a real pleasure to have you with us this year, Albus."

"I hope you'll help this little git get though his first year," Rudolf said, grabbing the shoulder of his recently sorted younger brother, Sheamus .

The younger boy glared daggers at his older brother.

"I don't need Potter or you to look out for me. I can take care of myself, thank you very much." He wrenched his shoulder from his brother's grip.

After a few more introductions, the sickly feeling in Albus' gut had all but faded away. While there certainly were more than a few stuck up purebloods, like Carrow twins Eileen and Hazel or the nasally voiced Harper Yaxley most of the Slytherins were just kids like him.

"I know you were kind of shocked by it, but I'm really glad, you ended up in Slytherin, Al." Delphini said, covering her mouth with her hand to conceal her food while she spoke.

Albus smiled his first honest and real smile since he had been placed. He may not have been glad to be placed in Slytherin, but he felt like there was a fair chance the eventually could be.

Albus and the rest of the first year Slytherins got to know each other while they ate, revealing such interesting facts as that Helena Gildenburg's father worked underneath Albus' father, Harry, as an auror; that Cyrus Kennedy's family had to contact the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures over the summer to investigate a werewolf sighting; and that Andromeda Gilly's mother, who worked in the Department of Magical Games and Sports, had heard rumors that there were plans to revive the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

The casual conversation was interrupted when a hand reached out and lightly grabbed Albus by the shoulder.

"James!" Albus exclaimed, a bit surprised to see his older brother.

"Looks like I called it, Al." James said nervously, trying to make it come across as a joke.

"Could have had me fooled with that sign."

James laughed uncomfortably at that.

"Rose is a bit freaked out by this whole thing. Kept saying that there had to be something wrong with the hat…" James' voice kind of trailed off as if to imply that he felt the same way as Rose.

"I suppose things just worked out this way." Albus replied, still not confident enough in his own decision to tell his brother about it.

"Well, um, take care and if you need anything, you know where to find me, Al." His brother forced a smile and a little wave, before he departed for the Gryffindor tables.

"You're brother's pretty handsome," Andromeda cooed.

Albus contorted his face and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I just don't see it."

"Does he have a girlfriend?" one girl asked.

"What's he like at home?" asked two others simultaneously.

"He's so debonair," another added.

There it was.

The shadow of his father may not have been as heavy as Albus had initially feared it would be, but James' feats, and apparently his features as well, would pick up the slacks. His brother was smart, handsome, athletic, and he and the rest of the Marauders had built up quite the reputation for the daring (much to his mother and father's chagrin).

"I think he's a jerk."

Albus looked to his side to see that it was Delphi who had hurled the insult.

"Sorry, Albus," she paused for a moment and looked down at her empty plate before going on. "It's… well… It's just that his pranks can be mean spirited, and his cronies take things too far."

Albus had only ever met Edgar Jameson and Abner Morris a couple of times over the summer break, but they hadn't left an impression of being cronies.

Abner had been fiercely independent, in fact. Albus remembered that no amount of teasing from Edgar and James had managed to get the boy onto a broom for racing.

Still he hadn't met any of the other Marauders and he wouldn't exactly be surprised if some of them got caught up in James' charisma and took things a little too far.

"Oh you're just still upset about about the chalk drawing of you hexing Professor Longbottom." said another second year girl.

Delphi looked like her face had become stone upon being forced to recall whatever event was being brought up.

"What happened?"

The girl smiled at being allowed to recount the story.

"Oh, good old Delphi got in a row with Archie Kelly in Herbology last year. When Professor Longbottom came over to settle everything, Archie said something about the Professor needing to be careful or Delphi would hex him-"

"And then Delphini decked him." A second year boy cut in.

The girl who had been talking glared at the boy and then smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for, Goyle?"

"For stealing my thunder," she smacked him again, "and that was for not using my first name. It's Jennifer by the way. I'm not sure if we were properly introduced, Albus. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. So Delphi punched Archie right in his nose. There was so much blood. It was fantastic! Delphi ended up getting detention because of it so she had to help Professor Longbottom on Saturday, but before that could happen Archie and the rest of the Marauders snuck out at night and made a pretty impressive chalk mural of Delphi placing the Cruciatus Curse on old Longbottom and telling him to watch out that Saturday."

"There wasn't any evidence that it was Archie and the Marauders, but Archie was the only one with a motive to do it and he is a member of the Marauders."

"Sounds like a mean thing to do, but I must be missing something, because it doesn't really sound that bad." Albus said as he glanced over to Delphi who had been silent during the telling of the tale.

None of the people who had been tripping over each other to relate the story to Albus seemed to want to fill him in on whatever information he was missing that would make him understand.

Finally Delphini spoke.

"It's cause the waste of a wizard that was my pa took part in the torture of Professor Longbottom's parents. He and his friends drove them mad."

"Oh," a shocked Albus responded.

"Professor Longbottom said I could do my detention with another teacher, if I wanted to. So I did, but that only got more rumors spreading about how Longbottom really was afraid that I would curse him."

Jennifer Goyle picked up from there.

"Lot's of us have had to deal with some level of teasing or bullying cause our parents and grandparents were... well... they were the bad guys or they ran away rather than fight for either side at the Battle of Hogwarts, but it kind of grew out of hand with Delphi. Not that your brother and his friends knew that it would happen when they made the original mural."

Delphi spoke up again.

"Professor Longbottom asked me if I wanted him to say something to the class, but I told him no. I didn't need people thinking I'd cast the Imperius curse on him. It took most of the rest of the year, but the rumors slowly died down and hopefully summer was enough time to get the majority of people to think of something else. One of the new first years will probably have to absorb the brunt of the bullying and rumors this year, unfortunately."

Albus would never have to feel the sting of those kind of accusations. Yes, he had to live in the shadow of his larger than life father and his brother, but those shadows protected him from what had happened to Delphi and and the rest of the Slytherins that seemed so eager to be his friends. It added a bit of perspective to his issues.

"I could talk to James about it. I'm not sure how much that will help with the older kids, but he could probably keep the Marauders from participating in that kind of stuff."

"Don't bother with it, Albus. We've tried in the past. It's not gonna change anytime soon. We've just got to live with it." Owain replied.

It felt like a strangely somber note to end the evening meal on, but with the plates barren and most of the students full to the point of nearly exploding, the evening was drawing to a close.

The other houses seemed to be just as poised to depart from the great hall and go to their respective common rooms when Headmistress McGonagall stood again.

"With our evening drawing to a close, I would just like to remind returning students and inform new students that there are a number of extracurricular activities that can contribute to furthering your education as well as earning more points for your house. These activities go beyond the obvious example of Quidditch,Wizard Chess, and the Frog Choir to things like the Astrology and Animal Husbandry clubs."

With that, the students were dismissed from their suddenly immaculate tables and groups of first years followed their seniors to their common rooms.

Albus and several of the other first years followed Delphi through the corridors and down several flights of stairs until they arrived at a dead end.

"Oh good, a dead end. This looks like just the spot." Cyrus said sarcastically.

Delphi raised an eyebrow and gave him a quick glare before turning to the wall and speaking.

" _Naja haje_."

With that, a section of the wall retreated inwards and exposed a spiral staircase.

While the Slytherin Dungeon wasn't what Albus would consider "cozy" like his grandparent's home, it did make him feel at home. The atmosphere and the architecture, from the great stone snake above the fireplace to the ancient ornately decorated oaken chairs reminded him of 12 Grimmauld Place.

"Kreacher would like it here," Albus thought allowed.

"Who?" Helena Gildenburg inquired.

"The family house-elf."

"You have a house-elf?" Cyrus asked.

"Well yes, but also no. I mean, Kreacher lives with us and takes care of the house, but my dad freed him a long time ago. Kreacher likes the house too much and though he'd probably never admit it, my dad is one of his three favorite people after Regulus and Walburga."

There were more inquiries about the Potter household, some about his father, some about his brother, but most about himself and the home.

The conversation went on into the night, until Albus felt as if he may not make it up the stairs. Finally the Slytherin Headboy told everyone that it was time to go to sleep.

As Albus made his way to the first year boy's dormitory, he smiled to himself.

Maybe being a Slytherin wouldn't be so bad.

...


	5. A Letter

Chapter 4: A Letter

Albus yawned and stretched, dragging the back of his right hand against his closed right eye.

"Saturday." James mumbled groggily after he glanced at the calendar he'd brought from home. In the photo above the calendar, the Seeker for the American Quidditch zoomed past his opponent from Liechtenstein to secure the golden snitch.

Albus remembered that game, or well he remembered being there for it. His dad always received complimentary tickets for the world cup, but the 2014 tournament was the first time that Albus had been old enough to go. It had been exciting to camp out with the rest of the extended family and see the matches. He remembered his uncles Ron and George and his grandad moaning about how it wasn't right that England hadn't even qualified for his first World Cup.

The games themselves were interesting, but Albus had wished he could explore the surrounding Patagonian desert more. He had read all about the headless Blemmyes and the long tailed Iemisch just prior to the trip and desperately wanted to go in search of them. In the end, Albus didn't get to meet any Blemmyes or see a lemisch, but he did have the honor of being awoken one morning by an Alicanto. The glowing golden bird had raised Albus from his slumber with a loud shriek. When he rushed outside to see what had made the noise he saw the Phoenix sized bird sail above him, a silver bracelet in it's claws. An angry looking Brazilian woman had been running after the bird, screaming in Portuguese and trying to retrieve her bracelet.

Albus grinned as he recalled the chase.

His eyes went from from the calendar on the night stand to the bed across from his own.

Albus had heard from his brother that the Gryffindors had open dormitories where all the boys of a specific year slept. It sounded like it killed any sense of privacy to Albus, which made him thankful that the Slytherin dungeon differed from Gryffindor tower.

The first years had been directed to a hall filled with fairly bare bones rooms, furnished with a pair of beds, dressers and a bifurcated wardrobe. The rooms near the front of the hallway had been underneath the school, but the farther out one's room was the farther under the lake it lay. Because he had stayed up so late talking with his new friends, he hadn't had a chance to grab one of the nearer rooms and as a result, he and the rather short Irish boy, Cyrus Kennedy, now slept beneath the waves.

The light that penetrated into their room from the thick glass window was dim, having had to pass through the deep waters of the lake.

Albus let out an extended yawn and debated laying in his bed until he fell back to sleep, but the ringing of bells ended that debate.

Like many old muggle mansions prior to the advent of electricity, the various dormitories and the common room of the Slytherin Dungeon were linked by a system of bells, though the bell system was linked with magic rather than with strings.

"But I thought class didn't start until Monday?" Cyrus groaned.

"I don't think that this is a wake up to go to class." Albus responded.

Albus got out of bed and sorted through his bags for his cloths, having gone to bed without situating everything in his dresser and wardrobe. It didn't take him long to get dressed, but it made it abundantly clear that he needed to get things put away at the soonest opportunity .

Albus and Cyrus made their way through the corridors that led from their dormitory to the common room chatting about their classes.

"You tested into second year History of Magic?! But why would you do that?" A bewildered Cyrus asked.

"I like reading." Albus replied very matter of factly.

"I like stories, and well history is just one big story. There are heroes, villains, and important people who are a little bit of both. Like the goblin leaders of the rebellion of 1602. They-" Albus looked like he was about to go into a far to detailed recounting of the rebellion when Cyrus cut him off.

"Sorry Al, but I'm really not that interested. You can tell me if and when I need to know about the gnome rebellion for class."

Albus furrowed his brow and grimaced at Cyrus.

"It was a goblin rebellion." Albus grumbled under his breath.

The two boys entered the already tightly packed Slytherin common room.

Standing before the fireplace and the great stone serpent was Professor Eleanor Cobham.

Seeing her at this distance made Albus acutely aware of the fact that he had severely underestimated her height when he had thought she was six foot. Her seat at the table of professors must have been much lower to create the illusion that she was only slightly taller than her fellow instructors. Here in the dungeon, her eyes were nearly at the same height as chandeliers, Albus was able to see that she was nearly twice the size he had originally thought her to be.

"She's a giantess," Albus overheard Helena Gildenburg whisper to her demure friend, Theodora Cyprus.

Apparently Professor Cobham had overheard this as well and with a smile she called out, "Half-giantess, dear."

Helena's eyes grew wide and she instantly became silent, her face growing red with embarrassment.

Her silence spread throughout the crowd and the low murmuring came to an end.

Professor Cobham gave the Slytherin common room a toothy smile that was more unsettling than it was soothing.

"It is truly a pleasure to see you all. As you may recall from the Headmistress' introduction of me, I am Professor Cobham; your new head of house and Potions Mistress. It is an honor to return to these halls for the first time since 1989."

She paused briefly and scanned the students before going on.

"I have a great deal of respect for my predecessor, Professor Slughorn, but it is my belief that his Slug Club has harmed this house. We must view this house and all its inhabitants as a if it were a coven of old. We are only as strong as our weakest member. We cannot afford to turn a blind eye to those around us that are lacking in ability, rather we must work as one to excel. This may be my first year as head of Slytherin House, but should we work together, I am certain that we will attain the House Cup and unseat Gryffindor House."

She paused again and her face became colder and more stern; and yet in its sternness her expression still was less unsettling than her smile had been.

"Do NOT mistake this statement as being an excuse to ride on the coattails of your betters, because I will not allow it. Just as I expect those who can help to help, I expect those who can succeed to succeed and every last one of you can succeed."

"Before I depart and allow you to take breakfast in the Great Hall, I must tell you that I have office hours every Wednesday from four to six and again on Saturday from noon until five. If you are struggling in Potions, then I implore you to seek me out during these times."

.

.

"What'd yah thin of Profeffor Cobham?" Cyrus asked, a mouth full of hash browns muffling his words .

"Are you incapable of speaking without a mouthful of food?" Jennifer Goyle sneered.

"I canna do it." Cyrus opened his mouth wider and exposed the half chewed hash browns even further.

"How juvenile."

"Who's juvenile? Not Al, I hope." Delphi asked as she took a seat next to Jennifer.

"Albus has been just fine, it's this Cyrus child. He's another Randal Jorkins."

Farther down the table an older boy with wavy brown hair looked up the table and called out.

"You need somethin', dearie?"

"Take a lap in the lake, Randal!" Jennifer fired back to the boy who laughed it off with the other second year boys he was surrounded by.

Cyrus, having wolfed down the rest of his hash spoke again.

" Really though, what'd think of her?"

"Who?" Delphi asked.

"Professor Cobham." an exasperated Cyrus repeated.

"She's a bit intense, but I think I rather like her." Delphi replied.

"She's the first giantess that I've ever seen." the first year girl Andromeda Gilly interjected.

"She's only half giantess, you can tell by her size. She's about the same size as Mrs. Hagrid." Albus said as he speared a sausage with his fork.

"Who?" a confused Cyrus asked..

"Olympe Hagrid." Albus said as though he expected her name to be familiar to everyone.

When all he received was blank stares, he elaborated.

"She's a half giantess who used to be headmistress of Beauxbatons. Her husband is a friend of my dad, they visit every once and awhile and we spent last Christmas at their house in Vasconia. That's how I know Professor Cobham is only half giant. I mean apart from her having said it to us."

"Well, thanks for that lesson, Albus, but that still doesn't tell me what you thought of her." an exasperated Cyrus replied.

"There's not exactly a lot to go off of. We can't really say anything until we've had class with her on Monday."

Cyrus groaned and rolled his eyes.

"It's called speculating, man."

"Specu-what?" a first year girl asked Cyrus.

"Speculating, you know, guessing."

"Oh," the girl said, a little embarrassed that she hadn't known the word.

"She's no Slughorn, that's for certain." Jennifer Goyle said in a manner that left Albus unsure if that was meant to be praise or an insult.

The rest of the breakfast conversation at the Slytherin table was fairly mundane; most of the returning students talked about their summer vacations while many of the first years continued where they had left off the evening before with getting to know each other.

Albus spent the time trying to talk with Delphi. The operative word being trying. He felt very uncomfortable asking Delphi about her home life, while he liked the idea of renewing his friendship with the older girl, he was fairly certain that knowing each other for a month when they were four or five was not a sufficient enough time of friendship to try and ask deeply personal questions about someone's unfortunate circumstances. It would be, he thought, impolite and very presumptuous. Instead, the two mostly just talked about school and classes.

The older girl warned him about the persnickety charms teacher, Professor Garshasp Yusufi. Not only was he incredibly touchy about how the homework he assigned was answered, the old Iranian professor was apparently a bit on the eccentric side and kept a large peacock in his classroom. The peacock loved to scream and shriek at just the right moments to throw students off balance when it came time to cast a spell for a visual presentation.

"Sounds like his class is going to be entertaining." Albus said with smile.

"Not exactly how I would describe it." Jennifer Goyle butted in.

"Anybody else I should be worried about?" he asked.

"Not really. Professor Chang is pretty new to teaching, so there is that. Professor Bones used to be an auror, so she's a little intense when it comes to DADA." Delphi replied.

"What's DADA?" Albus asked.

"Defense against the Dark Arts. She's the head of Ravenclaw, but you won't see her showing them any favoritism. She might even go a little harder on them." Delphi answered.

"Last year, she made Morgan Grey go into the Forbidden Forest with her to collect materials, just for talking while she was teaching her lesson." Jennifer followed up.

After finishing up breakfast, Albus and Cyrus made their way to the bulletin board to see when and where they could sign up for clubs. Albus had wanted to ask Delphi what clubs she was in, if any, but Cyrus had rocketed out of his seat and dragged Albus with him, when one of the older boys had brought up the dueling club.

When the two Slytherin boys found themselves before the bulletin board, Cyrus let out a low sigh. In rather large bold letters, the sign up sheet for the dueling club very clearly said, "For second year students and up".

"But that's not fair." Cyrus whined.

"It kind of makes sense though, doesn't it? I mean, first years don't really have any experience with dueling magic since we haven't even had our first year of defense against the dark arts." Albus said with a bit of uncertainty.

"Can't do Quidditch, can't duel, what can we do?" Cyrus huffed.

"We could join the Wizard Chess Club." Albus pointed towards the poster featuring an animated knight piece slaughtering a pawn.

"I'm terrible at wizard chess, but you can join if you want."

"Nah, I'm not that good at it myself."

The two boys looked hard at the numerous posters, trying to figure out what club, if any, they would join.

"I think I might try the Potions club." Albus said finally.

"What? Why? That's like taking 2 potions classes at once. Why would you do that?"

"There's only so much you can learn from reading before you have to put it into practice. That's why you can't test out of Potions 1, like you can History of Magic. If I could jump into Potions 2 I would, but since I can't this seems like it could be fun."

Cyrus made a fake vomiting noises upon hearing this.

"So it's safe to assume you aren't interested?

"Sorry, mate. I think I'll be hitting up the Gobstones Club."

Albus chuckled at that.

"You're laughin' at me joinin' the Gobstones Club while you're joinin' Potions Club?"

"Who was laughing? It certainly wasn't me. Maybe it was Peeves." a big stupid grin appeared on Albus' face.

Cyrus glared at Albus silently for an extended period of time, before the two boys burst out into laughter.

"You're an insufferable little git, you know that, Cyrus?"

"Yeah, and you're the worst sort of book worm, Al."

The two boys grinned like idiots before a sharp voice from behind Albus commanded their attention.

"ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER!" The voice shouted.

Albus' heart sank into his stomach.

He knew that voice all too well.

Turning around, Albus confirmed what he already knew. The shout originated from a dumpy looking, bespectacled, girl with long red hair

"M-Molly?" Albus said with a bit of worry in his voice.

"Who's Molly?" Cyrus asked.

The slightly pudgy girl glared at Cyrus through her horn rimmed glasses as she stomped towards the boys..

"I'm Molly. Now if you don't mind, I need to speak to my cousin ALONE."

This was not a question or a request. No, this was an order.

"It's alright, Cyrus. I'll see you later in the dungeon."

The small Irish boy looked to be ready for a fight, but finally he decided to do as Albus had said.

"Alright, Al. I'll see you later."

After Cyrus had rounded the corner and vanished from their sight, Albus' angry looking cousin gave him a big hug.

"You idiot. How come you didn't come and see me at the Gryffindor table at breakfast? I was so worried about you. James said everything was alright, but he's an idiot. He's not as sensitive as you, Al. So of course he wouldn't know what he was talking about." Molly spoke faster and faster and her voice grew more shrill as she hugged her younger cousin ever more tightly. "Those idiots didn't tease you did they? Was that boy laughing at you when I came up? Do you want me to hex him?"

Finally, Albus had had enough and forced his older cousin off of him.

"I'm fine, Molly. Really I am. Or well I was, before you tried to break my spine."

"Don't be rude, Asp." Molly replied sharply, using the nickname that she had given him when he was considerably younger and that James had latched onto when he had teased Albus over the summer about being sorted into Slytherin.

"I'm not being rude, Molly. You're the one that embarrassed me in front of one of my new friends and then tried to break me in half."

Molly's eyes narrowed and the 4th year Gryffindor girl looked like she was about to lambaste Albus.

As he prepared for one of her signature lectures, he was surprised to get something completely different.

Molly's face softened and she smiled warmly.

"Sorry, Asp. It's just… you know… you're supposed to be in Gryffindor with us. I mean, Rose had a conniption fit and stayed up all night trying to find a way to get you out, and your brother's so worried he's gone quiet. And you know him, unless he's sleeping that little git never goes quiet. He's too full of himself to think that the world can go a full minute without him talking about how wonderful he is. This mornin' he decided to get the rest of the Marauders brainstormin' about gettin' you out of Slytherin."

Albus sighed heavily.

"Can you get them to stop? I was really worried when I first got sorted. Heck, I'm still worried. I haven't even sent an owl to my mom and dad yet, but I'm not worried in the same way anymore. My housemates are good people. I like them, or well I like most of them, and most of them like me."

Molly frowned a bit and looked Albus up and down.

"Asp, you aren't a Slytherin. You might not be a Gryffindor, but you're not a Slytherin. You're too sweet for them." she looked down at him with soft eyes.

Albus looked away from his cousin, his brow furrowed. He didn't know if he should tell Molly about what had happened. He hadn't told his brother, but Molly was different. Molly may have been his cousin, but because his uncle Percy's work always had him traveling, she'd often stayed with the Potters at 12 Grimmauld Place. She was more like an overprotective older sister than a cousin and Albus felt that she deserved to know the truth.

Looking up, Albus mustered the courage to tell the truth about what had happened.

"I asked the sorting hat to place me in Slytherin."

Molly looked confused.

After an extended period of silence Molly finally managed to speak, "Why?"

"Cause it wasn't gonna sort me. It'd said it was tough sorting me. It didn't know if I should go to Slytherin and it didn't think I belonged in Gryffindor and then it just went silent...and it stayed silent. It felt like it was on my head for an hour before I really started to panic. I didn't know what to do, so I decided that anything would be better than nothing. If Slytherin was the safest option to get placed, it was the option I had to go with. I was gonna scream it out loud if I had to, but then the hat said it for me."

Molly looked down at Albus. She didn't look upset or disappointed in Albus for not holding out. She did, however, look sad.

"You shouldn't have done that, Asp. That's what you think I'm gonna say right?"

Albus nodded silently.

"Well, you're wrong. When I sat underneath the sorting hat my place was decided in an instant and I was welcomed to the Marauders by Teddy the instant after that. There was never any doubt or fear, but if there had been, I don't know what I would have done."

She reached out and ruffled his messy black hair affectionately.

"If you think this was for the best… well then I guess it was for the best."

.

.

After his run in with Molly, Albus finally felt that he had the courage to write a letter home. He knew that neither of his parents would be disappointed. His mom might be shocked, but they certainly wouldn't be disappointed.

Still putting his quill to paper was difficult. The task of putting each word on the parchment was laborious, and about halfway through the letter he contemplated having James of Molly write his parents and tell them. Despite making friends, despite asking for this, he still felt strange about it.

Would he tell his dad that he had asked to be placed in Slytherin? Would his dad think that Albus' asking to be in Slytherin was a rejection of his legacy?

In a way it was. The hat had even commented about it, but it wasn't meant to be an insult to his father. He just didn't want to have to be measured up against him.

With a sigh, Albus looked up from his parchment to the roaring fire and the great stone serpent above it.

"What are you looking at, Potter?" Sheamus Mclendon sneered.

Albus hadn't noticed that the he was sitting by the fire with a book.

"Nothing… just thinking."

"Must be difficult for you." the boy retorted.

Before Albus could respond, a group of fifth year girls entered the common room, serving as a distraction. The girls gossiped loudly, paying Albus and Sheamus no mind, but their conversation made it too difficult for Albus to concentrate on the already difficult task of writing his letter.

Apparently one of the girls had started an inter-house romance with a Ravenclaw boy over the summer, and her cohorts needed to know as many of the details as possible.

Albus, unable to continue his work, shook his head and went to his room.

"I'm never going to be like that over a girl." Albus mumbled to himself with the confidence that only an eleven year old who still didn't really think of girls romantically could have.

In his room, Albus worked silently. He'd written about the train ride, seeing the giant squid, and about how he missed his mom and dad and Lily, and how he'd already made a friend, but he'd neglected to say where he had been sorted.

Albus looked at the letter for a while before he quickly scribbled, "P.S. I was sorted into Slytherin."

With that, Albus folded up the parchment, placed it in an envelope, and made his way to the owlery.

It was very apparent that Albus was not the only first year going to the owlery to send off a letter. The narrow stairwell was crowded and the first years grew impatient as they waited to get into the owlery.

"There should be an owlery for every house." a first year Ravenclaw boy by the name of Glenn Brown groaned.

"Quit your bellyaching." an older boy that Albus wasn't familiar with but wore the Gryffindor colors responded.

As the line drew closer to the owlery, Albus saw Scorpius making his way down the stairs. The boy looked distracted and a bit worried.

"Don't look so dower, Malfoy. You're a Gryffindor, remember? Gryffindor's aren't exactly known for their sulking." the same older Gryffindor boy from earlier said to Scorpius as he passed by.

Albus understood what Scorpius was going through, or at least he thought he did.

As Scorpius drew near Albus' place in line, he spoke to him.

"Looks like we're still gonna be rivals."

Scorpius must not have noticed Albus, because he looked taken completely off guard by his statement.

"Didn't mean to spook you. I guess that's just a Slytherin trait." Albus joked.

Scorpius faked a smile, "Yeah, I guess so."

Albus didn't know what to say. He'd remembered Scorpius saying that his parents would be okay with him not being in Slytherin and he'd remembered the excitement on the boys face that had washed away the initial shock, but it looked like all of that confidence had faded away when confronted by having to actually tell his parents.

"A-are you okay, mate?" Albus finally asked.

Scorpius shook his head as if to say no, but said, "Yeah, I'm okay. It's just… well you know, right? Expectations and what not."

Albus shook his head in agreement.

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

He waved his own letter and said, "I included my sorting as a one sentence p.s. I didn't know what else to do."

Scorpius laughed at that.

"That's what I should have done."

"So how's Gryffindor?" Albus asked.

"It's good. I… I like it a lot. It's very different from how my father described Slytherin Dungeon."

"Yeah, Slytherin Dungeon is really different from what James and Dad said about Gryffindor Tower."

Albus felt awkward and a bit stilted in the way he was talking with Scorpius. It felt like he should try and talk to Scorpius because they had to be going through fairly similar issues, but at the same time Albus really didn't want to talk about it with him. Luckily for Albus, the movement of the line kept him going forward and the flow of people leaving the tower forced Scorpius down.

In the owlery, Albus found his rather large Eagle Owl, Penny. The black and brown owl looked grumpily at Albus and let out a shriek. The large bird had been his father's, but in recent years had been living a fairly quiet life indoors, eating as much as she desired and stalking Kreacher, much to the old house elf's annoyance. She was not fond of suddenly being thrust back into the working world and resented Albus for it.

Giving the great bird a little snack, Albus bribed her into allowing him to secure his letter to her leg and sending her off to his parents. As Albus watched the bird fly away, the reality of it all seemed to solidify around him completely. He was in Slytherin.

.


	6. A Mixed Beginning

Chapter 5: A Mixed Beginning

"Hurry up, Cyrus!" Albus called back to his Irish housemate.

The shorter boy kept with his walking pace and simply shook his head.

"We're gonna be late for our first Potions Class, hurry!" A frantic Albus called back to him.

"Al, we've got plenty of time to get to class." Cyrus replied before taking a bite out of a strip of bacon he'd taken with him from the table.

"I really want to get a seat up at the front of the class though!" an antsy Albus bemoaned.

"Then you can go on ahead, cause I ain't gonna be sitting up front. You can probably see her just fine from the back of the dungeon."

"Is that so?" a feminine voice from an intersecting hallway asked.

Professor Eleanor Cobham emerged out of the intersecting hallway between Albus and Cyrus. Standing at over 3 meters tall, the half-giantess Towered over the two first year boys.

Gazing up at her imposing figure, Cyrus began to stammer an apology, or maybe it was an excuse, Albus wasn't really able to tell.

Professor Cobham looked questioningly at Cyrus.

"Mr…um... Kennedy, correct?"

Cyrus shook his head in affirmation.

"You might want to quicken the pace. You wouldn't want to be late for your first Potions class, now would you? I've heard that the instructor is a bit monstrous." a mildly disconcerting grin spread across Professor Cobham's face.

Cyrus shook his head a couple times and zoomed past Professor Cobham and Albus in the direction of the Potions class.

Professor Cobham turned to Albus and smiled at him. It wasn't the toothy grin that she's frightened Cyrus with, but there was still something a little unsettling about it.

"Walk with me, Mr. Potter." she requested.

"Yes, Ma'am… er… Professor." Albus stumbled.

It was a struggle for Albus to keep up with Professor Cobham, each step by the half-giantess being the equivalent of three or four of his own.

"So, Mr. Potter, you'd like to join the Potions club, am I correct?"

"How did you know?"

Professor Cobham gave Albus a puzzled look.

"Because you signed up for it and as the club's faculty leader I tend to see who signs up."

"Oh, of course!" an embarrassed Albus replied.

"It's good to see a first year taking Potions so seriously. I hope I can take this as a sign that you will be very different from your brother, who my colleagues have warned me about."

Albus had known that his brother had been a bit of a troublemaker and that mother had been forced to send a howler the previous year, but he hadn't realized that he and the Marauders were as infamous as they appeared to be.

"Yes, professor."

"Yes, what?"

"Er… yes, Professor Cobham."

The potions mistress shook her head, "No, I mean yes, you are different from your brother?"

Albus felt himself getting red in the face again. He'd continued to make a fool of himself in front of one of the teachers he had most wanted to impress.

"Yes, Professor. You can be sure I won't be making mischief with James."

"What about that sign that I saw at the sorting ceremony? Do you have any affiliation with these Marauders?"

"I don't believe so, professor." he replied quickly.

"You don't think so?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I just mean that only Gryffindors are in the Marauders. Like how the Order of Pen and Wand is only made up of Ravenclaws." Albus tried to reassure her.

"See to it that the Marauders stays a Gryffindor exclusive group. You will have a much easier time in Slytherin if I don't have to deduct large quantities of house points because you and your brother get into hijinks."

Albus nodded in agreement, though a great deal of him did wish that he could join the Marauders and sneak about the castle in the evening.

Albus and the giant witch entered the noisy dungeon only for the chatter to vanish the instant the imposing figure of Professor Cobham entered the room.

The seats near the front were all filled up with a mixture of Gryffindor and Slytherin students, but near the back of the dungeon sat Cyrus with his cauldron resting on an empty chair besides him.

Albus moved to go sit with Cyrus only for Professor Cobham's tremendous hand to grip him by the shoulder.

"You," she said pointing at a slightly overweight Gryffindor boy sitting in the front row.

"YesMa'am!" he nervously replied, his words running together.

"Sit in the back, next to Mr. Kennedy."

"B-b-but, ma'am, I can't see from that far back." the boy stammered out.

"That's why you have glasses, correct?" she pointed at his coke bottle glasses.

"W-well, yes ma'am, but I like-"

"You like?" she cut the boy off. "You like what? You like presuming to tell an instructor where she may place her students? You like dictating to her your feelings in front of her class? Well, I'm terribly sorry, but I... dislike that sort of behavior. Now, if you wouldn't mind, and I'm very sure you wouldn't, please go sit with Mr. Kennedy in the rear of the classroom. Or, alternatively, you can continue and I will fine your house 10 points and you can spend detention with me and my lovely Gaboon Viper, Esinam... She needs to be milked."

The boy shook his head and quickly made his way to the back of the class. About halfway down to the back, his cauldron fell to the ground with a loud clang. The boy frantically picked it up and continued to his new seat.

With Albus, and the rest of the classroom sufficiently frightened, Professor Cobham made her way to the front of the class and then silently placed three different cauldrons on counter top.

"Hello, children!" She smiled. "It is so very pleasant to see all of you here. First impressions are very important, so I hope you all make your best effort to make a wonderful first impression and I shall do the same."

Everyone in the class, mumbled in agreement and shook there heads in affirmation.

"Good, good, good. Now would someone like to tell me why I have three cauldrons in front of me."

Albus saw his cousin Rose shoot her hand into the air almost instantaneously. He was confident that he knew the answer himself, but after his conversation with the professor in the hallway he wasn't eager to speak with her so soon.

"Would you like to give your opinion, Mr. Potter?"

Albus felt himself clam up. He didn't like being put on the spot like this. What if it was a trick question?

Why had she put him on the spot like this after lecturing him about going unnoticed? Did she want to embarrass him? That didn't seem like the sort of thing the Head of Slytherin should do, but why else was she doing this?

"Nothing, Mr. Potter?" she questioned. Her face betraying neither a sense of disappointment nor surprise.

Albus wasn't going to let that stand. He wasn't going to be embarrassed over a fact that he'd known since he was as young as five.

"It's because one is brass, the other is copper, and the one of the far right is Pewter. You would use them for making different potions because if you tried to use the Pewter cauldron from making anything other than potions that do not require heat, you would be very likely to cause your own cauldron to melt." He grinned a little.

"And that, class." Professor Cobham paused and looked back at Albus. " Is a how you make a good impression. Though I think we could do with slightly less smugness, Mr. Potter."

Albus' face went red with embarrassment, and he looked down at his textbook to conceal his smile.

"I've been poisoned, without knowing what specific toxin I have been exposed to and thus being able to make a targeted response to the poisoning, what is the safest course of action, Ms. Palmer?"

The bucktoothed girl's eyes went wide.

"Um…floo powder to a hospital?"

Cobham shook her head.

Rose's right arm danced in the air as she tried to get Professor Cobham to call on her, to no avail.

"Mr. Malfoy, you need to hurry. The lovely Ms. Palmer has been poisoned and you need to save her. What do you do?"

Scorpius looked like he hadn't the faintest notion of what to do.

"I… um… brew up an antidote to common poisons?"

"You're on the right track, Mr. Malfoy, but by the time your antidote is read, our poor Ms. Palmer will have breathed her last breath."

The half-giantess turned away from Scorpius and, once again ignoring Rose, pointed to the back at Cyrus.

"Mr. Kennedy, would it be too much to ask for you to save the young Ms. Palmer?"

Albus couldn't see Cyrus from his seat, but he had a pretty good idea about what his Irish friend looked like, being put on the spot.

"I think Jennifer's gonna die, Ma'am." Cyrus finally replied.

There were more than a few laughs at that, but Professor Cobham didn't look amused. Next she looked to the rather large Gryffindor boy, Martin Anders, but he like all before him came up empty.

"Mr. Mclendon, would you like to save, Ms. Palmer?" she pointed to the Scottish boy.

"No, but I'd shove a bezoar down her throat anyways."

"Thank you, Mr. Mclendon. You've saved, young Ms. Palmer and shown me that many of your classmates lack even some very basic foundational knowledge of potion making."

"I knew the answer," Rose grumbled.

Perhaps she had thought she'd been more quiet than she was or perhaps she hadn't realized that she said it out loud, but Rose immediately knew from the look that Professor Cobham gave her that she wished she hadn't said anything.

"I am acutely aware that you thought you knew the answer, Ms. Weasley. I wasn't blind to your flailing limb. That is exactly why I didn't pick on you. I am attempting to gauge the level at which the majority of your less vocal classmates are at. The fact that you, Mr. Potter, and and Mr. Mclendon know a few of the basics is wonderful, but it doesn't tell me anything about the rest of the class."

Rose went white and then she went red. While she remained silent, Albus knew from her face that she was fuming. She continued to stare daggers into Professor Cobham for the remainder of the class.

After the initial questions to gauge what level the class was at, the giant witch launched into a lecture about how potion making was the oldest form a magic and its connections between the wizarding schools of magic and the druidic schools of magic She'd occasionally call out names to try and see if anyone could answer a question. She'd even called on Rose, who unlike Albus actually knew the answer. The lecture was interesting, or at least it was interesting to Albus. He'd read about the druids and wandmaking, but never about the the origin of potion making.

Most of the books on potion making that he'd read weren't about the theory behind them or the history of the subject, those books were too advanced. Mostly, he read practical potion making books; books that were more like cookbooks than anything else.

By the time that the class had ended, Albus had managed to fill a page and a half with notes and Albus' opinion on the class had and Professor Cobham had changed to a mostly positive one. He still wasn't fond of the way that she'd talked about his brother, and the way she'd reacted to Rose may have been an overreaction, but nobody was perfect.

With the class excused, Albus made his way to Cyrus in the back of the class.

Cyrus looked exhausted.

"This is going to be a long five years." he groaned.

"Five?"

"Yeah, I already know that I won't be making it to the N.E.W.T. level classes."

"Really, after just one class?"

"I think I might be more of a wand man than a cauldron man."

"But we haven't even had charms yet."

"It's just a feelin', Al. I'm more of a caster than a cooker."

Albus shook his head and laughed a bit.

The two boys said their goodbyes and parted ways. Cyrus and the rest of the Slytherins went off to History of Magic 1 while Albus joined up with Rose and the Gryffindors to go to Charms.

Al silently sidled up to his grumpy cousin. The messy haired brunette didn't notice her cousin's arrival until he tapped her on the shoulder.

Rose jumped and gave out a little shriek.

"Asp, you little gnome."

"Who're you calling a gnome?" Albus feigned offence.

"You, you gnome! You didn't come see me, Saturday or Sunday!"

"You didn't come see me either, Rosey." Al shot back.

Rose huffed and increased her pace slightly.

"Rosey, slow down. My legs aren't as long as yours."

Rose took a few more steps before she stopped.

"Do you know how much time I spent trying to find a way to get you out from that horrible woman's house?" Rose glared at him.

"Horrible woman?"

"Yes, that ogre!" she pointed back in the direction of the Potion's classroom.

"Are you still mad about that?" Albus sarcastically asked.

Despite the obvious sarcasm, Rose's eyes grew wide with anger and she stomped towards him, a finger pointed at his face.

"Yes, I'm still mad. I'll be mad for the rest of the day. That four meter tall monster embarrassed me in front of everyone. What kind of a teacher does that sort of thing?!"

"I don't think she's four meters tall."

"Maybe you can't tell, because all tall people look the same to you." she used her hand to show the nearly seven centimeter difference between their height.

Albus frowned at Rose's pointing out that in the last year she had surpassed him in height.

"I just wanted to walk with you to our Charms class, but all you've done is attack me." an indigent Albus replied.

" _Our_ Charms class?"

"It's History of Magic 1 for Slytherins right now, so I'm taking Charms with you lot and then going to History of Magic 2 at 1:15."

"You got into HM2?! Why didn't you tell me?" excitement quickly replacing most of the anger and annoyance that had been on Rose's face just moments earlier.

"I'm sorry, Rosey. I've just been busy getting the lay of the land in Slytherin."

Rose stuck her tongue out and made fake gagging noises.

"How, Asp? I mean, how did you of all people end up in Slytherin? I thought for sure that you'd end up in Ravenclaw."

"I guess things just work out that way. We can keep talking, but we should probably get going to class." Albus scanned the hallway as older students began filing past the two first years in the direction of the Potions dungeon.

"Oh shoot." Rose replied.

In one swift motion she'd turned around and began power walking towards the Charms class. As Albus struggled to catch up without breaking into a sprint, he thought about Cyrus struggling to keep up with him earlier.

The pair made it to the Charms classroom with a few minutes to spare and secured themselves a pair of seats near the front.

Rose sat to the right of Albus, but to his left was a short Ravenclaw girl, her long black hair in twin braids. Albus recognized her from the sorting, but couldn't remember her name. She didn't pay Albus any mind, instead she appeared to be rather ferociously writing something in her notebook.

Near the front of the classroom sat a rather fat peacock. The fat bird's long and beautiful tail feathers cascaded down from its perch to the stone floor nearly five feet below the rest of the bird's body.

The rest of the classroom featured a number of works of art in varying styles. The centerpiece of most of these works of art were fires of some sort, though the significance wasn't clear.

With the classroom filled with chattering Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, Albus began to wonder where the professor was. He'd heard from Delphini that the Iranian professor was a tad on the eccentric side and had a passion for the arts, but he had yet to see Professor Yusufi for himself. Albus tried to recall some of the vibrant and beautiful robes that he'd seen in picture books about the Near East, and wondered if Professor Yusufi would storm into the classroom in something similar. That would be a grand entrance wouldn't it?

Since it appeared that they had time to burn, Albus turned to Rose and asked, "How's James?"

"A fat moron."

"Didn't ask what James was, I asked how he was?"

"He's acting like a fat moron." Rose huffed. "He's trying to convince me to join his gang. You know, the Marauders?"

"I don't really think it's a gang."

"I told him his gang was dumb and he was dumb, and then I told him the map has an apostrophe between the 'r' and the 's', denoting possession of the map not the existence of multiple _marauders_. He wanted my help getting you out of Slytherin. I was alright with that, since I was doing it already, but then he told everyone to stop working on the project after Molly got all yelly at him."

Albus grinned as he imagined their older cousin berating James.

"He can hardly call himself the leader of that group. Molly's been in it longer, and when she gets yelly, he does what he's told."

"The Shadow Minister." Al commented.

"Yeah-" Rose looked like she was about to go on, but then the door opened and everyone turned to see Professor Yusufi enter the classroom. He was a middle aged Middle Eastern man who looked like he had long accepted that he was going bald, and made no attempt to conceal his baldness. A pair of wire frame half-moon glasses sat atop his beak-like nose and instead of the imagined elaborate robes that Albus envisioned him in, he wore robes of tweed.

"Good day, class!" He called out in a jovial voice, his thick accent not enough to make it unclear what he was saying.

The way he called out, was almost infectious, and everyone, Albus included, called back, "Good day, Professor!"

Professor Yusufi closed the last meter or so distance between himself and his desk with a hop, skip, and a jump.

"I am Professor Garshasp Yusufi, Charms instructor, and head of the Dueling Club here at Hogwarts. It is a great pleasure to meet all of you, and I hope that we will have a wonderful seven years together."

Professor Yusufi's enthusiasm didn't end with his introduction, he seemed to bound around the classroom, always calling on someone nearest to his current location to try and answer a question he asked. There was no sense of safety about being to distant to be asked a question, though. He regularly surprised students with his speedy arrival by their side.

The first forty-five minutes were dedicated to his lecture and how to properly use the text to support his lessons, but then he began to pass around feathers.

"I'm going to have you all put what you learned into practice."

"What exactly have we learned?" the Ravenclaw girl next to Albus mumbled.

With the large white feathers placed in front of them, Professor Yusufi instructed them to turn their books to page 10 and attempt to replicate the spell.

"Can you demonstrate the spell for us Professor?" a Ravenclaw boy in the rear of the class asked.

"Why of course." the professor smiled.

He placed a feather on his desk and then with a swish and flick, he said, "Wingardium Leviosa."

As he raised the tip of his wand, the feather rose from the table.

"Professor, shouldn't we practice the hand movements and the vocalization of the spell separately first, to minimize the risk?" the Ravenclaw girl next to Albus asked.

"We could do that, Ms. Arbor… or we could do this." he smiled. "In fact, the first person to get their feather to the ceiling will earn their house 10 points."

Albus pulled out his wand and looked at the feather in front of him. He could do this, he'd read all about it. It was time to put everything he'd read into action.

"Wengardrium Leviosa."

The feather didn't budge.

"You're mispronouncing Wingardium, Asp. It needs to be more like this… Win-gard-rium Levi-osa." Rose demonstrated.

Her feather ascended a few inches and Rose gave Albus a smug grin.

"I'll get, it on the second go." Al said, as though he'd been challenged.

But he didn't. The feather wriggled a bit, but there was no lift off.

"You're not swishing properly." Rose said, her own feather about halfway to the ceiling as she cautiously raised the end of her wand.

Albus grunted in annoyance before he tried for a third time.

"Win-gard-rium Levi-osa."

The feather bobbed slightly, but once again it didn't rise from the table.

"No, no. you're placing too much emphasis on the ium." Rose chided.

This was starting to get on Albus' nerves. He'd read about this plenty of times, why wasn't it working?

"Congratulations, Ms. Weasley! Ten points to Gryffindor house!" Professor Yusufi roared out as Rose's feather narrowly edged out the feather of a Ravenclaw boy on the other end of the classroom.

Albus scanned the classroom to see how everyone else was doing. Scorpius had managed to get his feather about halfway to the ceiling and most people had at least managed to get their feathers off the desks.

Frustration setting in, Albus' hand movement became more erratic and with each attempt at the spell, the feather wobbled a bit more but stayed tethered to the desk.

"Calm down, Asp."

Albus looked at his cousin with frustration, before he could say anything, Professor Yusufi called out to the class.

"That was a wonderful first day, but it must come to an end. I look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday evening. You have some writing exercises in your books based on this spell, I'd like to see that handed in at the beginning of our next class."

"Stupid, feather." Albus grumbled as he packed away his things and prepared to head off for History of Magic 2.

"You'll get it next time, You just need to practice." Rose reassured him before they parted ways.


End file.
